legal

Previously on INSIGHTS, the daughter of a stroke victim talked about her experience trying to find a nursing home and qualify for Medicaid coverage, while she coped with the realities of her mother’s future. This second part of a two-part discussion will reveal the options and benefits of planning ahead for the rising cost of long-term care.

For more information on Medicaid, long-term care and additional help services, we have provided this list of useful online resources:

Hawai‘i has the highest life expectancy in the nation for people over 65 years of age, with women living on average six years longer than men. Long lifespans, of course, have ramifications on personal finances. Meanwhile, more and more kūpuna and their adult children are challenged by new and stricter Medicaid eligibility requirements. INSIGHTS ON PBS HAWAI‘I asks: What happens when you outlive your savings? Part 1.

For more information on Medicaid, Long-term care and additional help services, we have provided this list of useful online resources:

It’s been 17 years since Hawai‘i’s medical marijuana registry program was first enacted, and two years since the legislature passed a law establishing a statewide dispensary system. After the State Department of Health encountered stumbling blocks in implementing this system, Gov. David Ige signed a bill into law last month to clarify and expand the dispensary system framework. INSIGHTS discusses the challenges in getting dispensaries up and running, and asks: How much longer will patients need to wait?

Your questions and comments are welcome via phone, email and via Twitter during the Live Broadcast.

Phone Lines:
462-5000 on Oahu or 800-238-4847 on the Neighbor Islands.

For the 12th time since 1998, Hawai‘i lawmakers will consider legislation on physician-aid-in-dying. Should the current House bill pass, Hawai‘i would become the seventh state in the country to legalize this controversial end-of-life alternative for people suffering from terminal illness.

Hawai‘i House Bill 201 allows a terminally ill adult with the capacity to make an informed healthcare decision to request a prescription for aid-in-dying medication from their attending physician to facilitate a peaceful death.

On the next INSIGHTS, strong arguments will be made for both sides of this debate currently being heard by our state lawmakers. Will Hawai‘i be the next state to legalize hastening death when death is inevitable?

Your questions and comments are welcome via phone, email and via Twitter during the Live Broadcast.

Phone Lines:
462-5000 on Oahu or 800-238-4847 on the Neighbor Islands.

In collaboration with The New York Times, FRONTLINE examines the world of fantasy sports and online sports betting. With law enforcement cracking down, the film traces the growth of these booming businesses and goes inside their operations at home and abroad.

Hawai‘i legalized medical marijuana in 2000, but it’s been a long and bumpy road to establishing a dispensary system. The latest delay came on April 13, with the State Health Department saying it needs more time to access criminal histories of finalists for licenses to grow and sell medical marijuana. In the meantime, patients and caregivers have been growing their own cannabis.

Your questions and comments are welcome via phone, email and via Twitter during the Live Broadcast.

Phone Lines:
973-1000 on Oahu or 800-238-4847 on the Neighbor Islands.

Gain insight into the hard-fought battles and secret negotiations over immigration reform on Capitol Hill. Examine President Obama’s push for policy changes that could affect the fate of millions and define for decades what it means to be American.

This film chronicles the 40-year love story between Filipino American Richard Adams and his Australian husband, Tony Sullivan. In 1975, thanks to a courageous county clerk in Boulder, Colorado, Richard and Tony were one of the first same sex couples to be legallymarried in the world. Richard immediately filed for a green card for Tony based on their marriage. But unlike most heterosexual married couples who easily obtain legal status for their spouses, Richard received a denial letter from the Immigration and Naturalization Service stating, “You have failed to establish that a bona fide marital relationship can exist between two faggots.” Outraged at the tone, tenor and politics of the letter, and to prevent Tony’s impending deportation, the couple decided to sue the U.S. government, initiating the first federal lawsuit seeking equal treatment for a same sex marriage in U.S. history.

During a lifetime filled with health issues, money woes and legal challenges, Richard and Tony never wavered in their love, lost their senses of humor, or gave up their quest for justice. Their personal trajectory parallels the history of the LGBT marriage and immigration equality movements, from their 1971 meeting at an L.A. gay bar called “The Closet,” to the 1975 signing of their marriage license in Colorado, through the era of AIDS, to the historic U.S. Supreme Court rulings on gay marriage in June 2013.

Since Hawai‘i approved marijuana for medical treatment 15 years ago, other states have surged ahead with dispensaries, and in some cases, marijuana decriminalization. Advocates are hoping for a statewide dispensary system, and concerned parents and law enforcement fear that medical marijuana could be abused. Mahealani Richardson moderates a talk with reps from advocacy groups, a drug policy organization and the Attorney General’s office.